A SEVEN-year-old girl who was screaming in agony after badly breaking her arm in a playground fall was rescued by police after she waited ONE HOUR without sign of medical help.

Tiny Taemar Lancaster, who broke a bone and dislocated her elbow after jumping off a swing and landing awkwardly, cried her heart out as her distraught mother waited for paramedics to turn up.

A fire at the control room was the reason for delays - but even so the incident was low-rated by an operator who estimated a call out of at least one hour!

Luckily, two constables Dave Wilson and Phil Clark, from the crime-busting Targeted Patrol Teams, happened to be passing at the time and stopped to help.

Taemar was scooped into the tender arms of the law as the officers gently coaxed her into the back of their patrol car and raced her off to Macclesfield Hospital for treatment.

"We radioed ahead and there were staff waiting outside to help us," said PC Wilson, 44, who has been in the force for 25 years. "We then left her in their capable hands and went about our work."

Dave and Phil, 39, both dads themselves, were delighted to have helped the child, who is now recovering from her ordeal.

PC Wilson said: "Someone flagged us down and the little girl was crying and screaming in pain. It was difficult persuading her to get into the car but eventually she let us help her in.

"We are glad she is okay. It was all worthwhile and it is good to hear she is feeling better."

This week Taemar's mum Dawn was full of praise over their actions but was fuming over an ambulance not turning up after numerous 999 calls for help went unanswered.

Last Wednesday - on the hottest July day in history - the little girl went to play on the swings in a small park on Tytherington Drive after school with other friends and their mums.

Dawn, 37, of Longden Street, Macclesfield, said: "Taemar jumped off the swings and landed funny on her left elbow.

"Luckily a friend's grandma is a staff nurse at A&E at Macclesfield Hospital so she held Taemar's arm still and told other mums to ring an ambulance on their mobiles, while I looked after her.

"Three or four tried 999 but the lines just kept ringing and ringing for at least ten minutes."

Meanwhile Taemar, a pupil at Marlborough Primary School, was screaming and crying in pain.

"She was hysterical and in shock, we were trying to keep her out of the sun as well," said Dawn.

When she did get through on a 999 call, the operator said she didn't know where Macclesfield was and then asked for the postcode of the park, which no-one knew.

Dawn said she was also told that the call was low category and she would be attended to in about one hour.

Then champion PCs Phillip Clark and Dave Wilson turned up and when they radioed for an ambulance they were told there had been a fire in the control room in Liverpool and that was causing mayhem.

Dawn, who lives with tree surgeon husband Andrew, and her two other daughters, said: "Taemar had no pain relief and every little bump in the road meant she screamed in agony but the officers drove as carefully as they could.

She said: "It was probably about an hour after her fall before we got to hospital and she was going whiter and whiter."

Taemar is now facing the six-week summer holidays in plaster after surgery to repair the damage.

And hospital appointments means she will miss a caravan holiday to Anglesey with her grandparents.

Dawn, who is making an official complaint to the North West Ambulance Service, said: "It was just a good job other people were there and could help me because I was panic-stricken.

"I could not believe we couldn't get an ambulance. I didn't know if her injury was getting worse the longer we waited.

"I think it is disgusting. We are fighting to keep this hospital here and we couldn't even get there."

She added: "The police were brilliant and really reassuring and we will be thanking them personally for what they did."

A spokeswoman for the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: "Due to unforeseen circumstances at the Cheshire and Merseyside control centre, the call was transferred to the Manchester control centre.

"The ambulance operator gave appropriate advice and prioritised the call as a Category C call - not life-threatening or serious. The caller was advised that this category of call requires a response by NWAS within one hour."